Text 25
devya ūcuḥ
aho iyaṁ vadhūr dhanyā
yā caivaṁ bhū-bhujāṁ patim
sarvātmanā patiṁ bheje
yajñeśaṁ śrīr vadhūr iva
devyaḥ ūcuḥ — the wives of the demigods said; aho — alas; iyam — this; vadhūḥ — the wife; dhanyā — most glorious; yā — who; ca — also; evam — as; bhū — of the world; bhujām — of all the kings; patim — the king; sarva-ātmanā — with full understanding; patim — unto the husband; bheje — worshiped; yajña-īśam — unto Lord Viṣṇu; śrīḥ — the goddess of fortune; vadhūḥ — wife; iva — like.
The wives of the demigods said: All glories to Queen Arci! We can see that this queen of the great King Pṛthu, the emperor of all the kings of the world, has served her husband with mind, speech and body exactly as the goddess of fortune serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yajñeśa, or Viṣṇu.
In this verse the words yajñeśaṁ śrīr vadhūr iva indicate that Queen Arci served her husband just as the goddess of fortune serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu. We can observe that even in the history of this world, when Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Viṣṇu, was ruling over Dvārakā, Queen Rukmiṇī, who was the chief of all Kṛṣṇa’s queens, used to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa personally in spite of having many hundreds of maidservants to assist her. Similarly, the goddess of fortune in the Vaikuṇṭha planets also serves Nārāyaṇa personally, although there are many thousands of devotees prepared to serve the Lord. This practice is also followed by the wives of the demigods, and in days past the wives of men also followed this same principle. In Vedic civilization the husband and wife were not separated by such man-made laws as divorce. We should understand the necessity for maintaining family life in human society and should thus abolish this artificial law known as divorce. The husband and wife should live in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and follow in the footsteps of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa-Rukmiṇī. In this way peace and harmony can be possible within this world.